Earlier today, President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) in Nyeri County to preside over the launch of the Semi-Conductor Technologies factory in Kenya.

Africa’s Semi-Conductor Factory

The factory, which is the only one of its kind in Africa, is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between two prestigious institutions;

• Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT)
• American nanotechnology firm, 4Wave Inc.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eng. P. Ndirangu Kioni, notes that they are spearheading the establishment of a Science and Technology Park. He states that it will be an engine for innovation, incubation, development and commercialization of technology

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“DeKUT aims to enter into the league of Entrepreneurial Universities. This will leverage research and innovation to create intellectual property (IP) rights. We will realize this by pursuing three thematic areas. These are:

• Agri-tech (Food bio-resources and natural products value-addition)
• Information and Communication Technology
• (ICT) and Design, Materials and Manufacturing (DMM)

The factory manufactures nanotechnology products such as integrated circuits and sensors used in electronic gadgets for the global market. The semi-conductors made will most likely be for export to America but the factory in itself opens many windows of opportunity here.

This is good, Kenya needs to ramp up industrialization..eg smartphone manufacturing, EV industry, drug manufacturing.

— Frank_Keb (@Frank_Keb) April 26, 2021

This could be the future of tech and industrialization in Kenya. Taking a look at smartphone manufacturing and EV manufacturing in Africa, this move puts us a step ahead of other countries.